Friday, 8 June 2018

Harvill Secker and Bloody Scotland launch competition to discover a new crime writer from a BAME background

Harvill Secker and Bloody Scotland have joined forces to
launch a competition to find a debut crime writer from a BAME (Black Asian
Minority Ethnic) background. The prize will be judged by award-winning Harvill
Secker author and Bloody Scotland committee member Abir Mukherjee; creator of
the bestselling Shetland and Vera series, Ann Cleeves; journalist and
co-founder of BAME in Publishing, Sarah Shaffi; and Harvill Secker Editorial
Director Jade Chandler.

Abir Mukherjee, an accountant-turned winner of Harvill
Secker’s previous crime writing competition, is the author of an award-winning,
critically-acclaimed series of historical crime novels set in 1920s Calcutta.
Abir’s debut, A Rising Man, won
the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger 2017 and was picked as one of Waterstones
best books of 2017.

Anne Cleeves, the Sunday Times bestselling author of 32
novels in 32 years and 2017’s recipient of the CWA Diamond Dagger, is a
passionate supporter of new writers, especially within the crime writing
community. Shaffi, a freelance journalist and editor-at-large at Little Tiger
Group, writes for Stylist online, is books editor at Phoenix and co-hosts the
pop culture podcast Eat, Read, Stream, Repeat.

Entrants to the competition will be asked to submit the first
5,000 words of their crime novel, along with a full plot outline. Entries will
open on the 9th of July 2018 and will run until the 9th of September
2018, with the winner announced in November 2018.

The winner will have their book published, under the Harvill
Secker imprint, in a publishing deal with an advance of £5,000. The winner will
also receive perks alongside their publishing contract, including a panel
appearance at the Bloody Scotland festival in 2019 (this year’s dates are 21st-23rd September)
and a series of three one-to-one mentoring sessions with Abir Mukherjee. The
Arvon Foundation – now in their 50th year – also joins the competition as
a sponsor and is offering the winner the chance to attend any one of their
creative writing courses or writing retreats in 2019, with all expenses paid.

Jade Chandler said: ‘While
the crime writing community is diverse in many ways, it lacks authors from BAME
backgrounds. With crime fiction’s increasing popularity, it seems more
important than ever that its creators should be more representative of those
who may enjoy reading within the genre. We want to do something pro-active to
address this and I am delighted that we’re teaming up with Abir Mukherjee and
such brilliant sponsors and judges to do so. I can’t wait to find an exciting
new writer to publish on the Harvill Secker crime list.’

Abir Mukherjee said: ‘I’m excited to be part of this new initiative being launched by Harvill
Secker and Bloody Scotland. At this time of great change, it’s more important
than ever that the experiences and viewpoints of writers from across the
spectrum of our society are published. Different viewpoints mean different
stories, which in turn lead to a wider, richer literary atmosphere, hopefully
reaching out to communities who feel marginalised or who have traditionally
lacked a voice.’

Bloody Scotland’s Bob McDevitt said: ‘Bloody Scotland is 100% behind this
important new prize and it fits in perfectly with the work we have been doing
recently with the British Council to bring crime writers from India to
Scotland. We think that breaking down barriers in terms of access to authors
from different cultural and social backgrounds will only improve the richness
of the crime writing genre.’